That month, hundreds of his fellow parishioners began to gather outside the 11:30 a.m. mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston to demand the resignation of one of the church’s clergy members, Cardinal Bernard Law. The Globe found Law had kept abusive priests, including Rev. John Geoghan, in the ministry for years despite allegations of child sexual abuse. (Geoghan was accused of abusing more than 100 children.)

But Doherty couldn’t bring himself to join them. He didn’t want the allegations to be true.

That all changed after he read a story on one of the victims who killed himself because he couldn’t recover from the abuse he had experienced.

“After that, I went out in front of this church and decided I wasn’t going to let them get away with this,” Doherty said. “Well, turns out, they did.”

Doherty and a group of about a dozen survivors and advocates, who informally call themselves the “sidewalk family,” have held a vigil of hope in front of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for more than 14 years. This Sunday was the last for Doherty, and fellow advocates Ken Scott and Paul Kellen, both of whom have been present for more than 650 Sundays.

They’ve run out of hope.

“I don’t think anything’s going to change in the church, at least not hierarchically,” Doherty said. “This will be my last weekly Sunday vigil. I want to get my life back.”

The final straw came during Pope Francis’s visit to the United States this past fall. While speaking at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Francis said the bishops were courageous during “difficult moments in the recent history of the Church.”

Doherty, Scott, and Kellen disagree. In the 14 years they’ve stood outside the church, they say they’ve seen little change in how the church has responded to victims of clergy abuse. Although Pope Francis created a Vatican tribunal for judging bishops accused of covering up or failing to act in cases of child sexual abuse by priests, Kellen said bishops have continued to escape punishment.

“When the boss praises the behavior of his troops shouldn’t we expect more of the same?” Kellen said. “So we should expect more coverup and more assistance to predators to avoid criminal sanction. To me it is a clear signal that no real change will come from the leadership of my church. Since I see that no protection is forthcoming from the hierarchy, I will direct my efforts in other ways.”

They decided to make this Sunday their last because it’s close to the anniversary of the day the Globe’s series was released in 2002. Their vigil also ended the same day that Spotlight, the movie that chronicled how the Globe’s investigative reporters uncovered the problem of clergy sexual abuse, will find out whether it receives a Golden Globe for “Best Picture.”

The movie received glowing reviews. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives it a 97 percent. The site notes that critics generally feel that Spotlight “gracefully handles the lurid details of its fact-based story” and resists “temptation to lionize heroes.”

Most survivors agreed. But many survivors and advocates noted that the film ends with the release of the investigation, so it doesn’t discuss its aftermath. It doesn’t address how the series encouraged many survivors to come forward with their stories. The film also doesn’t address how their fight for recognition from the Catholic Church hasn’t ended.